です

Japanese

Alternative forms

  • death (death) (humorous, slang)

Etymology

The copula です (desu) is thought to be a contracted version of であります (de arimasu), from で (de)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です +‎ あります (arimasu); however, there are other possibilities, namely でございます (de gozaimasu), from で (de)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です +‎ ございます (gozaimasu); でする (de suru), from で (de)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です +‎ する (suru); でおわす (de owasu), from で (de)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です +‎ おわす (owasu); and でそうろう (de sōrō), from で (de)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です +‎ そうろう (sōrō).

Pronunciation

Category:Japanese terms with Atamadaka pitch accent (Tōkyō)#てす'Category:Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation with pitch accent#てす'

Verb

です • (desuCategory:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks#ですCategory:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です) Category:Japanese non-lemma forms#てす'Category:Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys#てす'Category:Japanese verb forms#てす'Category:Japanese hiragana#てす'Category:Japanese entries with incorrect language header#てす'Category:Pages with entries#ですCategory:Pages with 1 entry#です

  1. (politeCategory:Japanese polite terms#てす') form of だ (da)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です, after uninflecting parts of speech: to be
    これは私(わたし)のパソコンです。
    Kore wa watashi no pasokon desu.
    This is my PC.
    (literally, “This my PC is pol.”)
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'
    昨日(きのう)はいい天気(てんき)でした。
    Kinō wa ii tenki deshita.
    It was good weather yesterday.
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'
    このパスポートはあなたのですか。
    Kono pasupōto wa anata no desu ka.
    Is this passport yours?
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'
  2. (included even when a copula is not necessary) indicates politeness
    とても美(うつく)しいです。
    Totemo utsukushii desu.
    It is very beautiful.
    (literally, “Very beautiful-is pol.”)
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'
    とてもおいしかったです。
    Totemo oishikatta desu.
    It was very delicious.
    (literally, “Very delicious-was pol.”)
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'
    私(わたし)も行(い)きたいです。
    Watashi mo ikitai desu.
    I want to go too.
    (literally, “1sg also go-want pol.”)
    Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'Category:Japanese terms with usage examples#てす'

Usage notes

The perfective form is でした (deshita)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です, volitional でしょう (deshō)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です, conjunctive でして (deshite)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です. Other forms are not used.

Plain form of verb + です (desu)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です / でした (deshita)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です is nonstandard. The standard form is verb ren'yōkei + ます (-masu)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です / ました (-mashita)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です. However, both plain form of verb + でしょう (deshō)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です and verb ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です are valid in Standard Japanese – the former mainly expresses conjecture and the latter mainly expresses volition.

For the past tense of an -i adjective, the adjective + でした (deshita)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です is nonstandard and generally considered a common grammatical mistake made by non-native speakers. The standard form is instead to use the past form of the -i adjective + です (desu)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です. For the forms ないです (nai desu) and なかったです (nakatta desu), there are synonyms ありません (arimasen)Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です and ありませんでした (arimasen deshita).

This word is phonologically an enclitic, similar to particles. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Synonyms

Derived terms

See also

Japanese basic inflections
Verbs-i adjectivesnouns and -na adjectives
NonpastPlainAffirmative Use the dictionary formstem + い (-i)noun + だ (da)
(noun + である (de aru))
Negative mizenkei + ない (-nai)Category:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks#ですCategory:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#ですstem + くない (-ku nai)noun + で（は）ない (de [wa] nai)
PoliteAffirmative ren'yōkei + ます (-masu)Category:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks#ですCategory:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#ですstem + いです (-i desu)noun + です (desu)Category:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks#ですCategory:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です
Negative ren'yōkei + ません (-masen)stem + くないです (-ku nai desu)
stem + くありません (-ku arimasen)		noun + で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu)
noun + で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen)
PastPlainAffirmative ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + た (-ta)stem + かった (-katta)noun + だった (datta)
(noun + であった (de atta))
Negative mizenkei + なかった (-nakatta)stem + くなかった (-ku nakatta)noun + で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta)
PoliteAffirmative ren'yōkei + ました (-mashita)stem + かったです (-katta desu)noun + でした (deshita)
Negative ren'yōkei + ませんでした (-masen deshita)stem + くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu)
stem + くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita)		noun + で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu)
noun + で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita)
VolitionalPlain mizenkei (of Group I verbs) + う (-u > -o)
mizenkei (of other verbs) + よう (-yō)Category:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks#ですCategory:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters#です		†stem + かろう (-karō)
(stem + いだろう (-i darō))		noun + だろう (darō)
(noun + であろう (de arō))
Polite ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō)(stem + いでしょう (-i deshō))noun + でしょう (deshō)
Conjunctive ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + て (-te)stem + くて (-kute)noun + で (de)
(noun + であって (de atte))
Hypothetical conditional kateikei + ば (-ba)stem + ければ (-kereba)(noun + であれば (de areba))
Category:Japanese hiragana Category:Japanese links with redundant alt parameters Category:Japanese links with redundant wikilinks Category:Japanese non-lemma forms Category:Japanese polite terms Category:Japanese terms with Atamadaka pitch accent (Tōkyō) Category:Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation Category:Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation with pitch accent Category:Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys Category:Japanese terms with usage examples Category:Japanese verb forms Category:Pages with 1 entry Category:Pages with entries